


Demon Cats and Devoted Boyfriends

by RamonaDecember



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 16:27:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20585510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RamonaDecember/pseuds/RamonaDecember
Summary: Cullen has never really been a cat person and his relationship with the fluffball he gifted Dorian has always been tenuous at best (the thing is a menace, truly), but when your boyfriend bats his eyelashes and asks you to pet-sit for the week, there's really no saying no.





	Demon Cats and Devoted Boyfriends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chaotically_Human](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaotically_Human/gifts).

> for chaos, because we've been deep in angst territory lately and fluff was very necessary.  
inspired by the fantastic cat photos linked below (because the embedded link hates me), as well as our musings about dorian getting a cat.  
for your viewing pleasure: https://animalwoonz.tumblr.com/post/186867500365

It was only a week.

That’s what Cullen tried to remind himself, that Dorian would only be gone a week. It wasn’t that he was getting weepy over being apart from his boyfriend for a handful of days, it was that while said boyfriend was away, he had asked Cullen to watch his—well, one thing to call him was ‘cat,’ but Cullen preferred the term ‘demon.’

He can still remember how appalled Dorian was when he learned of that cat’s—who Cullen had taken the liberty of naming before giving to Dorian—namesake. Daris. As in ‘felandaris.’ As in ‘demon weed.’ 

Cullen had tried to justify the name by insisting that Dorian hadn’t seen the way the little imp had behaved in the week or so Cullen had been stashing Daris at his apartment prior to being able to properly gift him to Dorian, or any of the subsequent moments of certified demonic activity, but Dorian wouldn’t hear it. He’d spent the rest of the evening cooing at the kitten and pointedly _not_ talking to Cullen.

But it was too late, the name had already stuck. And now Cullen was fairly certain that instances like these were still repentance for giving the cat a less-than-flattering name.

“You don’t even like your boss,” Cullen had pointed out when Dorian informed him he was going on a ‘work retreat’ which sounded far more a thinly veiled excuse for a spa weekend. 

“But you know I can’t say no to Vivienne. Or a free facial,” Dorian said, only adding, “I mean… Company sanctioned team building,” after receiving look from Cullen that said _I knew it_. Cullen rolled his eyes.

“You can even stay here while I’m gone. Bring… _Pup_. Make a week of it.” 

That was tempting. Dorian _did_ have the better apartment, with the comfier bed and the big, deep tub and the fancy hair products that Cullen would forever insist were unnecessary despite how often he used them when he was over. 

“Fine,” Cullen agreed, as if he would have ever denied him such a request. “But you leave my mabari out of this.” He hadn’t missed the clear slight against another animal whose name Dorian disapproved of. 

Dorian kissed his cheek. “Fantastic,” Dorian beamed. “If you have any problems you’ll have to call the facility, cellphones aren’t a thing there. But what type of problems could there possibly be?”

Looking back later, Cullen would wish he could appreciate irony a little more.

\--

Their week together went as well as could be expected. Cullen had countless scratches and a nice mark on his ankle from where Daris had darted out from under the bet to bite him for the sake of biting before zooming off somewhere else. More than once had Cullen woken in the middle of the to the cat perched on his chest, staring down at him with laser focus and an unnerving swish to his tail. And as of last night when Daris broke a curtain rod after scaling up them, the running score was two-and-oh when it came to cat versus Dorian’s tasteful decorating, adding on to the already broken vase from earlier in the week. 

Cullen started documenting at some point, his phone now full of pictures and of odd place he’d found the cat hiding, every crazy-eyed stare he’d received from across the room, and there was even a video of Daris rolling around in the torn open baggy of catnip the little bandit had stolen, not even bothering to look guilty. Maybe eventually he could get Dorian to admit that his cat wasn’t the perfect angel he’d been made out to be. 

The end of the weekend meant Dorian would be rolling in some time that evening, so Cullen spent the day cleaning up the apartment and himself. He was in the bathroom using his fair share of those hair products he clearly hated, listening to music that Dorian certainly would have made a snarky comment of three about, thinking of the best way to transition into scrolling through the newly collected incriminating cat photos on his phone. He briefly thought maybe he should have made a slideshow of all of his ‘evidence.’ Surely Dorian would appreciate the level of extra and petty that came with a good slide transition.

There was a small _splash_ before the music became warbled, then cut out altogether. Cullen swore, squeezing his eyes shut and taking a deep breath, not even needing to turn and look what happened. But there sitting on the back of the toilet where Cullen’s phone used to be was a far too innocent looking cat. He swore the demon could read his mind and was _trying_ to dispose of the evidence.

Cullen groaned before dunking his hand into the toilet to pull out a ruined phone. “You’re as big of a critic of my music as your father,” Cullen grumbled, pointing an accusatory finger at the cat. Daris just headbutted his hand before nipping at the offending finger.

\--

Dorian arrived in a flourish of luggage and complaints about car services and questions of, “Did you order dinner? I texted asking if Antivan sounded good to you tonight.”

“I had an… incident with my phone,” Cullen sighed as Dorian threw his arms around his neck. “It’s a little waterlogged at the moment.”

“That explains it,” Dorian said before leaning in to kiss Cullen. “Usually you jump at the opportunity to order from that little place around the corner. Sometimes I think the only reason you’re with me is because I’m within the delivery radius.”

Any more thoughts on dinner temporarily went out the window as Dorian kissed him again. And again. Small kisses were peppered all over his face before Dorian was pulling him into a tight squeeze.

“Cullen,” Dorian said, pulling back, his eyebrows creeping up. “Where is the vase that’s usually on the credenza?”

“Your damn demon knocked it over,” Cullen grumbled. “Shattered the thing. After he shredded an entire toilet paper roll in the bathroom, but before he knocked my phone into the toilet, of course.”

“Oh please,” Dorian cooed, stooping to scoop up the cat rubbing around his ankles. “He would never. I know, however, that _you_ have always hated that piece. And now you’re pinning it on my favorite darling. For shame, Cullen.”

Cullen grumbled halfheartedly about how _he can be your only darling, if you’d prefer_ before waving it all away and leaving Dorian to make kissy faces at his cat while he went to see if his phone could still be at all salvaged. Unlikely. He was stuffing it back into a bag of rice to try to soak up the moisture when a pair of arms slid around his waist, and like that, the tension went out of Cullen.

“I thought maybe it was your way of making room for some of _your_ things,” Dorian said, hooking his chin over Cullen’s shoulder and giving him a squeeze. “You’d need some of your own space if you were to live here. If you even ever wanted to live here.” 

Cullen turned himself in Dorian’s arms, wrapping his own around Dorian’s neck, studying his face, open and vulnerable as the implied question hung in the air. “Please, we both know you’d ever let me have a say in any décor choices around here,” Cullen said, and for a second Dorian’s face fell. As if Cullen would even deny him such a request. 

He tilted Dorian’s face up towards his with fingers under his chin, a smile slowly spreading on his lips before he leaned in to kiss Dorian’s. “When do I move in?”

It seemed he would be having far more opportunities to capture just how much of a menace Daris really was.


End file.
